Definitions Flashcards
What is an analytic cross-sectional study?
A cross-sectional study that tests a hypothesis.
How is an analytic ecological study different from a descriptive ecological study?
Differs only from the descriptive ecologic study by its intent to test a hypothesis.
Define the purpose of analytic epidemiology studies.
Analytic studies seek not only to describe, but also to test a hypothesis.
What is animal model-based research?
The use of non-human animals in experiments to seek to control the variables that affect the behaviour or biological system under study.
What does applicability mean in regard to research evaluation?
A criteria for evaluating research. Are you able to use results of the research in similar contexts with similar participants? In quantitative research, applicability is referred to as “external validity”; in qualitative research, it is referred to as “transferability”.
What is basic research?
Discovery-based, and focuses on developing theories regarding natural phenomena and processes. The purpose of basic research is to enrich our scientific knowledge base; real-world applications are not involved at this stage.
Explain the meaning of bias and its definition within quantitative research.
Refers to data being skewed in an unfair or inaccurate way. In quantitative research, bias is defined as a type of systematic (non-random) error in the design or conduct of a study that can lead to incorrect results.
What is biochemistry research?
The study of the structure and function of biological molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids.
Name and describe the technique used in experimental research to reduce bias.
Blinding: A technique used in experimental research to reduce bias by masking study information from researchers and/or experimental subjects.
What is bracketing?
The act of suspending judgment about the natural world to instead focus on analysis of experience. Also called epoche.
What is a case series?
A case series is composed of mulitple case studies. It describes the characteristics of a group or cluster of individuals with the same disease or symptoms (or condition/state) in an attempt to quantify various aspects of the group and thus present a relatively complete profile of the illness (condition/state).
What are case studies?
An in-depth analysis of people, events, and relationships bound together by some unifying factor. The case study (also sometimes called case report) presents a detailed description of an individual patient in order to characterize and understand a specific disease or syndrome.
Define case-control studies.
The study population is chosen based on their outcome status. Cases (those with the outcome) are compared to a group of controls (those without the outcome). Past exposure information is collected from both groups.
What are causal associations?
When changes in the occurrence of the outcome can be shown to be the result of an exposure, the association is said to be causal. To determine if an association is likely causal, it is important to refer to Bradford Hill’s criteria for causation (Module 4).
What is cell culture-based research?
The study of the behaviour of cells grown under controlled conditions.
Describe clinical equipose.
Clinical equipoise means a genuine uncertainty exists on the part of the relevant expert community about what therapy or therapies are most effective for a given condition.
What is a code?
A label meant to facilitate the grouping of data into meaningful categories. Codes are typically a single word or a short expression.
What is a codebook?
Typically usd to document the codes used in the coding process. Researchers can compare identified codes to the codebook, and compare their own codes to those of other researchers (in the event that multiple investigators are coding the same data).
What is a confounder?
Also called a confounding variable, a confounder is a third variable that affects, or is associated with, both the independent and dependent variables (exposure and outcome). Lack of control for confounding variables can result in misrepresented results.
There are three main criteria for a variable to be considered a confounder:
1) must be associated with the exposure
2) must be a risk factor for the outcome
3) must not be in causal chain linking exposure to outcome
What are cohort studies?
In cohort studies, a group of people with different levels of exposure are selected and followed through time to see what happens to them. Participants must all be free of the outcome at the outset.
Cohort studies can be retrospective (i.e., the outcome has already occurred and we are looking backward in time, typically through the use of administrative data) or prospective (i.e., we are following participants forward in time to observe outcomes that have not yet occurred).
What is a prospective cohort study?
In this design, a cohort is created based on current or past exposure and followed forward into the future to determine if an outcome develops.
What is a retrospective cohort study?
Also called a historical cohort, this cohort study design is constructed using past administrative records. Exposure status is assigned based on information recorded in the past. The cohort is “followed” into the present (or sometime in the more recent past) to determine outcome status.
Describe the concurrent nested design of mixed method research.
In a concurrent nested design, one paradigm takes priority over the other. This study is used when the two methods answer different questions or the same question at different levels (e.g., individual vs. community perceptions).
What is concurrent triangulation?
In this mixed methods research design, both qualitative and quantitaive data collection are conducted simultaneously. The interpretatino of the data is doen together and no one aspect takes priority over the other. This type of study is used to confirm, cross-validate, or corroborate the findings from each paradigm of the study.
What is a confidence interval?
Confidence intevals define a range of plausible values for true population parameters, based on a desired level of confidence (90%, 95%, or 99%). A confidence interval consists of two numbers called confidence limits. A confidence interval allows the researcher to determine the precision of an estimate - a wide confidence interval indicates that the estimate is imprecise, while a shorter confidence interval indicates greater precision.
What does confirmability refer to in the context of evaluating research?
Refers to the degree to which the results of a qualitative research study align with the observation and/or interview data. Documentation of decisions made throughout the study (an audit trail) is key to enhancing confirmability.
What is a confirmability audit?
A confirmability audit focuses on data interpretation. The reviewer judges whether findings are grounded in the data and the inferences made by the researchers are logical.
What is a consensus statement?
A document devleoped by an independent panel of experts, usually multidisciplinary, convened to review the research literature in health and biomedical sciences, permitting searches at various levels of specificity.
What does consistency mean in research evaluation?
A criteria for evaluating research. Can you follow the reseach steps of the study and come to similar conclusions? In quantitative research, consistency is referred to as “reliability”; in qualitative research, it is referred to as “dependability”.
Define the constructivist paradigm.
A constructivist paradigm leads a researcher to believe that reality is constructed inter-subjectively through the meanings and understandings developed socially and experientially (a relativist ontology). As such, we cannot separate ourselves from what we know. Constructivists favour qualitative methodology.
What does content analysis refer to? Is it used in quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods research designs?
An umbrella term to refer to different techniques to retrieve meaningful information from text.
Qualitative and mixed methods research designs use this (use of words as data).
What is a control group?
A control group is the subset of participants in experimental research that is not exposed to the independent variable (or exposure, treatment, or intervention). Control groups provide a baseline measurement that can be compared to the experimental group.
What is convenience sampling?
A process of selecting subjects or units for examination and analysis that is based on accessibility, ease, speed, and low cost.
Define credibility in relation to research evaluation.
Refers to how believable the findings of a qualitative study are. It is based on an assessment of the design features adopted by the researcher to verify findings. Techniques such as triangulation and member checking enahnce the credibility of qualitative study results.
What is a critical discourse analysis?
The study of a group of ideas or patterned way of thinking, which can be identified in textual and verbal communications, and can be located in wider social structures.
Explain deductive reasoning.
This type of analysis is guided by a priori hypotheses or objectives (or theories), and is the approach used in quantitative research.
Describe dependability in the context of evaluating research.
Dependability refers to the stability or consistency of the research processes throughout the course of the qualitative study. A review of the activities of the researcher by an independent person is needed to assess dependability (i.e., a “dependability audit”). Dependability can be thought of as being akin to the transparency of the research process.
What is a dependability audit?
A review of the activities of the researcher by an independent person. This is only possible if the researcher has clearly documented how the study was conceptualized, how particiapnts were selected, how data were collected, and how the interpretation of the data evolved. The documentation must also idenify any changes that occurred in the setting.
Define the purpose/meaning of a dependent variable.
The variable that is changed as a result of manipulation of the independent variable. Also referred to as outcome or endpoint.
What are descriptive cross-sectional studies?
An exploratory study where exposure and outcome for each individual under study are measured at the same point in time. It is difficult to determine causation through the use of cross-sectional studies as a result of this design feature.
Define descriptive ecological studies.
An exploratory study where exposure and outcome for each individual under study are measured at the same point in time. It is difficult to determine causation through the use of cross-sectional studies as a result of this design feature.
What are descriptive ecological studies?
The units of analysis are groups (not individuals). Summary measures (average or proportions) of exposure and outcome for the groups are analyzed.
Define descriptive epidemiology.
Descriptive observational studies in epidemiology describe the occurrence of an exposure and/or outcome in a population. Investigators look for patterns of health/disease by answering the questions: Who? What? When?
What is a descriptive question?
These questions focus on the who, what, when, and where.
What is detection bias?
This type of information bias is present when the outcome status (in a case-control study) or the exposure status (in a cohort study) influences data collection and recording.
What are determinants?
Factors that contribute to morbidity and mortality in human populations.
What are deterrants?
Factors that prevent or reduce morbidity and premature mortality in human populations.
What does diagnostic suspicion bias refer to?
A bias that may occur when knowledge of the subject’s prior exposure to a putative cause (ethnicity, drug intake, a second disorder, an environmental exposure) influences both the intensity and the outcome of the diagnostic process.
What does distribution refer to?
The frequency and patterns of morbidity and mortality in a given population or community.
Define epidemiology.
The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems.
What is epistemology?
A branch of philosophy concerned with determining what can be known and how it can be known.
Define ethics in relation to study design.
Was the study conducted in compliance with standards of research ethics? The three core ethics principles are justice, concern for welfare, and respect for persons.
Explain the qualitative study tradition of ethnography.
The systematic study of the shared patterns of groups of people located in the same place or in frequent contact. The ethnographer’s subject is the group or its culture. He/she observes society from the point of view of the group.
What does etiology refer to?
The cause of a disease or condition.
What is exclusion criteria?
The bases on which a person would be excluded from participating in a study. Typically include factors such as: pre-existing conditions that may complicate study findings, previous or current medications, or patients that are too ill to participate.
What is an experimental group?
Also called the “treatment group”, this is the subset of participants in experimental research that are exposed to the independent variable (or exposure, treatment, or intervention).
What are experimental units?
The who or what being randomized or analyzed, for example: cells, animals, participants.
What is an explanatory question?
These questions focus on the why and how.
What does exposure mean in the context of epidemiological research?
In epidemiology, the exposure (or treatment/intervention) is the independent variable that exerts influence on the dependent variable (or outcome). Exposures are usually risk factors, but are more broadly understood as any factor that might influence health, positively or negatively.
Define external validity in relation to evaluating research.
Also called generalizability, external validity refers to the degree to which the results of a study are likely to be true for populations other than the sample studied.
What are extraneous variables?
Variables outside of the main exposure-outcome relationship being studied.
Define focus groups.
Group interviews, usually with three to five groups of 6-12 participants.
Describe grounded theory studies.
In a grounded theory study, the researcher goes back and forth between data collection and analysis such that interpretations are continually derived from raw data. The intent is to collect and analyze data to develop or generate an initial theory that informs the subsequent data collection and analysis.
What is a group trial?
An intervention study in which groups of individuals are assigned to one of several interventions. This design is used when the intervention to be evaluated operates at a group level, manipulates the physical or social environment, or cannot be delivered to individuals.
What is a hazard rate?
The speed at which the outcome is observed. It is calculated by dividing the number of events (outcomes) observed by the sum of time each unit is observed (i.e., person-time). Hazard rate may also be referred to as incidence density or incidence rate.
